


Won't Fool the Children of the Revolution

by dramaticbanjo



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, スイート プリキュア♪ | Suite Precure♪, プリキュア | PreCure | Pretty Cure Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-05-25
Packaged: 2018-04-01 06:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4010011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dramaticbanjo/pseuds/dramaticbanjo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone can hear music, but it takes a practiced ear to listen for the right notes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> More robots.

“Wow, this is pretty old.” Hibiki hefted up the boom box, its red paint still bright and devoid of scuffmarks, “Where did you find this?”  
“It was left in the lost and found in town.” Ellen said, watching the other girl set it down and middle with the dials on its front, “I thought—I thought it was kind of a shame to just throw it away…” Hearing her trail off, Hibiki gave her a quick thumbs up, “I think its neat! I think my dad might have some cassettes somewhere in the house we can play later.”  
Hearing steps behind them, they turned to see Kanade, Hummy in her arms, “What’ve you got there?”  
“A boom box Ellen rescued from town.” Hibiki held it up with a little effort, “It’s a little heavier than it looks, but its in good condition!” The cat-like fairy in Kanade’s arms made a squeal of excitement and jumped out to it, and it was only Ellen’s quick reflexes that stopped their friend from crashing straight into the machine, “It plays music, right, Siren?”  
“Er, yes—loudly, I think from what a book I read said…” Ellen looked at the boom box, “Once we find some cassettes for it…”   
“In the meantime,” Kanade cut into their studying of her find, “How about lunch? Considering we were already planning on eating outside, we can bring that along so we can all look at it.”  
Hibiki made an interested sound at the mention of food, and jogged after her childhood friend, boom box in her hands, “Alright! I like that plan, that’s a good plan. Come on, Ellen!” Carrying a squirming Hummy, the dark haired girl followed the other outside.   
On the patio table that Hibiki’s family had set up to enjoy the warm weather, if they ever got the time to, Kanade set down a tray of food, and Hibiki let out a whoop of joy, dropping the boom box with alarming carelessness on one of the chairs and grabbing one of the sandwiches before Kanade could block her attempts.   
“Hibiki! You could wait until we all got here!” Hibiki looked like she was going to open her mouth and say something through the food, but Kanade quickly held up a hand to stop her, “…You can swallow that before you talk.”   
Reaching the table, Ellen set Hummy down, who quickly jumped to the chair with the boom box, inspecting it curiously.  
“Where did you find it?” Kanade asked casually, handing her a plate with a sandwich on it, handing Hibiki a glass of water when she started coughing from swallowing her food too quickly.   
“At the lost and found—they were going to get rid of it because no one had claimed it, and when I asked they just said it would get thrown away or they would give it to anyone who asked…”   
“It smells funny!” Hummy suddenly interjected, making Hibiki turn her head quickly to look at the fairy, “Eh? I didn’t notice anything!” Hummy flicked her ears, “Mmm…that isn’t quite right…” She leaned in and pressed one of her ears to it, face unusually set in concentration, “Something…sounds…here…” She pressed harder, sliding across the front of the boom box in an attempt to find what she was looking for.  
A minute passed as the three girls watched her, before she sat back in defeat, “Nya…I couldn’t find it…”   
“Aww, its okay, Hummy.” Hibiki reached over to pet behind her ears, “I bet something was just caught in the speakers.” The little fairy still looked a little downcast, until Kanade slid a plate of food made especially for her across the table, and she dug in with a happy cry. 

Feeling something very different from the happy friends, Blaster thought that this mission, which was supposed to be a simple interception of ‘Con communication on Earth, was steadily going from bad to even worse. Upon entering the atmosphere, their small ship had been shot down, and Blaster had been sent hurdling through the air, and knocked himself offline upon impact.   
When his system had finished running a damage report and rebooting his processor, he had been in a human shop in his alt. mode, and was forced to wait it out.   
And to make his current situation even worse, he didn’t even know where this human town was, or where it was in relation to their original landing point, and something was blocking his communication signal from going anywhere.  
In short, he was stuck, and though Blaster always tried to be positive—a habit carrying over from being the Voice of the Autobot frequencies in the war, but something about the human town seemed to set him on edge.   
While the trio of human females refueled, and the organic animal thankfully stopped trying to listen to him, Blaster extended his audio systems, fine-tuned as they were, in an attempt to catch the low strain of noise he had heard since coming online in the shop.   
He was so engrossed in the scanning that he didn’t notice one of the humans—the one who had originally picked him up—lean down and press one of the buttons on his front.  
It took almost all of his control to not make an undignified noise of surprise.   
“Hmm…” They made a contemplative noise, and the organic animal jumped on their shoulder to watch, “How about…this one?”  
Another button, and another test of how quickly Blaster’s systems could shut down reflexive noises from his speakers.   
“It would stink if its circuits are fired.” The second human to pick him commented, “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”  
“My mom might have some cassettes in some boxes…somewhere.” The last human added, “I could try to find those too.”  
They cheered, and thankfully the human stopped messing with his buttons. Blaster let himself relax for a moment, until the organic animal jumped off of their perch, landing in front of him and, before his systems could tense again, pressed one of the buttons with a tiny paw.   
Before Blaster could cancel the command in his processor, before he could think of anything, his speakers let out a blart of unattractive noise, surprising the animal into falling off the chair with a squeak, while the humans actually physically jumped.   
If it were in another situation, Blaster probably would have found their reactions uproariously funny. Instead, he felt part of his fuel pump sink as they all approached him, and steeled himself for a quick transform-and-run. 

As the closest to the boom box, Ellen got closer to it, reaching out and cautiously pressing another button.   
Silence.   
She pressed another button, frowning, and was met with the same result.  
“What…what was that?” Hibiki asked when it became clear that the sound wasn’t going to happen again, “What’d you press, Hummy?” Scrambling back onto the chair, Hummy shook her head, “I don’t know what happened! I just pressed…that one!” With one paw, she pointed at the button, and then pressed it again.   
This time, Blaster caught the reflexive command and terminated it, so nothing happened.   
“…Maybe something just was stuck in the compartment…?” Kanade suggested, walking around Ellen to try, and after a second of studying the buttons, suddenly hit the ‘eject’ button. Blaster couldn’t hide his squeak of surprise, and Kanade jumped back, “There! It—it made a noise! You’re sure it doesn’t have anything in it?”   
Ellen nodded, “The store owners said it was empty!” Pushing them both out of the way, Hibiki rolled her sleeves up to her elbow, “Well, lets get to the bottom of this! Ghosts, aliens, or Notes hiding inside—come out!” And then she tried to force the compartment for cassettes open. 

Normally, the compartment was rather protected; anyone who tried to force it open would usually get an angry cassette leaping at their face. Even in his robot form, the compartment remained sensitive, but not overly so—just enough to make him swat away curious mechs who didn’t know better but to poke at it.   
So it was mostly shock that made him yelp and snap the door shut.   
There was a moment of silence as it sunk in what he had done, and Blaster felt like sinking into the ground. If Jazz were here, he would be laughing at Blaster’s plight, but the mission leader wasn’t here, and Blaster was alone, with no cassettes, no weapons, and three humans that had no idea what he was.   
“Did it just…yell?” The human in front of him asked, and and the other two shrugged. Meanwhile, the organic gasped, “Do it again! Do it again!”   
Figuring that there was probably nothing he could do to salvage this, and his disguise as a ordinary sound system, Blaster did what he had to do.  
He ran. 

\--

Outside of the city, a red visor regarded the scenery, the owner carefully holding something in their hand. On their shoulder was a robotic bird, black with red streaks down its ‘wings’, and around their legs was a robotic panther-like creature.   
In their hand, however, was a tiny, quivering music note, large eyes filled with tears.  
Soundwave studied it, “Observation: Sentient notes of sound.” The Note in his hand shudder, making small chimes in the note of D-sharp.   
By his feet, the panther snapped their jaws closed in boredom, “Soundwave, there’s an Autobot signal in the immediate area. Looks like the aerial drones weren’t as efficient this time.”   
“Ravage: will wait.”   
Ravage made a sound that sounded like a snort, but obeyed, waiting patiently while Soundwave inspected the Note more, “…About that in your hand. What do you make of it?”  
“Subject: comprised of unknown energy. Could act as an energy source.”   
“Laserbeak and I can find more.”   
“Do so.” At Soundwave’s command, Ravage leapt into the grass surrounding them, heading stealthily towards the town, while Laserbeak took to the skies with a piercing cry. The Note in his hand shuddered one last time, before leaping into his chest compartment.   
For a second, Soundwave’s visor flared a deep red.

Granted, Blaster couldn’t actually run in his alt. mode, one of the very major downsides of being a communications specialized frame in an Earth adapted mode. His Cybertronian alt. mode had wheels, but Jazz had dropped the info that this was supposed to be covert, and the last thing Blaster had wanted was Ultra Magnus or, Primus forbid, Prowl giving him a lecture about protocol and hiding their presence.   
Technically, Earth sound systems could not move, but, by twisting the armor segments of his frame, Blaster could kind of move by sort of skipping himself along the surface of the ground.   
Not his most dignified escape, as if being modified to shrink wasn’t enough, but if he could get away, break through whatever was blocking his communication signal and regroup with Jazz, he could deal with it.   
“What the?!”  
“Catch it!”  
“Don’t worry, Kanade, I’m on it!”   
Blaster simply tried to move faster, hampered as he was by his lack of legs, wheels, or anything that could even pass as a form of locomotion. The human chasing him—Hibiki, he was sure that was her designation—was gaining on him, and the last thing he wanted to do was wreck his cover beyond hope and transform into robot-mode.   
It was when Hibiki’s sudden yell made him stop his frantic escape attempt, and a quick scan confirmed that this had, in fact, gotten worse.   
Pulling themselves up from their hiding place off of the road, Ravage snarled, slowly approaching the prone Autobot like it was prey. 

Her sneakers made an almost screech on the ground as she stopped, and Hibiki had to shake her head to make sure she was still seeing the cat-like thing stalking towards the boom box, which was shaking ever so slightly.   
“Ellen, do you know them?”  
“No—it’s not a fairy.” The dark haired girl’s eyes narrowed, “I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Kanade caught up with them, Hummy at her heels, “Hibiki, Ellen! Why is it after the boom box?”  
“No clue, but I think we can agree that there’s something strange about it—and we’re not going to let that thing get it!” The Cure Module appeared in her hand, and she held it up, with Ellen and Kanade mirroring her on either side, “Step away from the boom box!”   
Ravage snarled in response, and if they could understand Cybertronian, there would be more than one swear word in it as well.   
“Let’s play! Cure Melody Modulation!” 

Lying on the ground in between a Decepticon and three humans who exploded into light, strains of music hitting his dialed-up audio sensors, Blaster made the note in his processor to make Jazz buy him so much High-Grade when this whole debacle was over.   
When the light faded so he could actually use his visual systems again, Ravage growled and leaped over him, claws aiming at the middle human, who was staring the Decepticon down fearlessly. While Blaster gave them major points for bravery and style, some new detailing and flimsy armor wasn’t going to stop claws that could shred Autobot armor.   
Deliberately not thinking about the mess this would create, and that he would get chewed out for later, Blaster swiftly transformed, feeling the Mass Displacement systems work as he returned to his original size, fist catching Ravage from underneath. 

Hibiki felt like her heart would stop. From the boom box acted possessed to a monster that seemed neither Negatone nor fairy, to the boom box unfolding itself—and growing—to become a robot, was too much, even for her.  
“Got ya’, rust-bag!” The cat-thing snarled, claws now scrabbling against the red armor, and the arm flung them away. Metal screeching on the pavement, the thing sprung up, while the robot-that-had-been-a-boom-box rolled their shoulders like they were loosening them for a fight, “Lucky me, eh? Even though you slagging ‘Cons blew me out of the sky, I gotta’ be close to at least your boss, right, Ravage?”   
Ravage hissed, and launched themselves at them, claws extended, and slamming into their front. The robot grunted, stumbling back at Ravage clawed at them, scoring deep marks down their front.   
“Hey, over here!” Hibiki’s sudden yell made Ravage whip their head around, red eyes narrowing to pinpricks as they focused on her.   
“Melody, what are you doing?” Kanade asked, but her friend just shrugged, “No idea! Come on, Rhythm, Beat!” There were many things the blond Cure could say to her friend’s response, but Hibiki was already jumping forward, one arm pulled back in a punch that hit Ravage squarely in the jaw. Knocked off of the red robot, Hibiki landed on the ground and gave them a thumbs up. Sharing a quick glance with each other, Kanade and Ellen followed their friend as Ravage pulled itself to its feet, snarling and snapping its jaws at them. Circling around it in a run, Kanade dropping to the ground and swiped at its forelegs with a kick, making it yowl and turn, leaving it open to Ellen dropping in from a jump, “Got you!”   
Suddenly, the dark haired girl yelled, beams firing down from the sky as something dived down in a screech, beating metal wings.   
“What the heck is that?”  
The robot snorted, “So I am in the right place. Gonna’ fly back t’ Soundwave and give him the news I’m still online and kickin’, Laserbeak?” With another screech, Laser swooped closer in another arc, letting loose another volley of beams which forced the Cures to jump away in retreat.   
Shaking the damage brought by them off, Ravage gave them one last snarl before running off the road, picking up speed even as Hibiki began to give chase, Laserbeak providing cover fire to further dissuade pursuit. 

When it was clear the duo were gone, Hibiki clenched her hand into a fist, the transformation dissipating as she returned to her form, “Dang it! What were those things?”  
“How about that boom box was?” Kanade asked, transforming back as well and pointing at the robot, which gave them a weak wave as they sat down on the ground, “They were after them.”   
“We can definitely confirm none of them are from Major Land.” Ellen added, holding Hummy, walking until she stood in front of their new guest, “I guess you can clear some things up for us, right?”  
“Ah, yeah, sure—lemme’ just—what was the human phrase? Catch m’ breath. Or somethin’.” They poked at the scratches across their front, and hissed slightly, “A-and that was a bad idea.”  
After a moment where they continued to poke the scratches, they looked up again, “Okay—I’m good now. So, uh, lay it on me—an’ don’t mind if I ask some questions myself.”   
The three girls shared a look, and Hibiki shrugged, while Kanade nodded, “Fair enough, then…what’s your name?”  
“Designation’s Blaster. What’s yours?”  
“I’m Kanade—this is Hibiki, and that’s Ellen.” Ellen waved, slightly shyly, and Hummy meowed loudly, squirming to try to stand up taller her arms, “And I’m Hummy!” Blaster seemed to be as unperturbed as Hummy at talking to each other, and Hibiki stepped forwards, “So—what were those things? Seemed like you knew them.”  
“That was Ravage and Laserbeak—bad news, but their boss is even worse.” Blaster frowned, “And if they’re hangin’ out here, then Soundwave’s around here…”  
“Who’s Soundwave?”  
“Bad news.” Blaster sighed loudly, “And t’ make matters worse, when I crash landed here, my comm. systems must’ve been knocked offline because I can’t get any frequency to work and I got no idea where my mission partner went.” He slumped, “This is gonna’ grind my processor.”   
While he muttered and complained to himself, the Cures took a step back to huddle in a quick circle.  
“So, what do we do about this?” Ellen asked, glancing between the other two, and Hibiki nodded to herself, “I say we help him.”  
“I say we get more information.” Kanade countered, and she met Hibiki’s quick glare with one of her own, “Not that we won’t help him, but we need to know more.” Hibiki turned her face away, grumbling that she was going to suggest that to, and Kanade looked across to Ellen, “What do you think, Ellen?”  
“I agree.” In her arms, Hummy nodded, her ears wiggling, “Hummy agrees too!”   
Kanade looked back at Hibiki, “So it’s agreed? For now, lets learn more about what’s going on.”  
“Yo, what’s humming?” Blaster said, closer than they remembered him being, making all of them jump as he laughed to himself, “Some things I can’t answer, y’know? Military protocol and all that, and th’ last thing I want is for Ultra Mags to be lecturin’ me on breaking protocol.” He lifted a hand to poke at the scratches, and Kanade snapped briefly, “Stop it! You’re only going to make those worse by fussing with them!”   
“Ouch—okay, fine, got it, Hatchet number two.” Blaster grumbled, but dropped his hand. “Lay it on me then. What can I do for ya’?”   
“Why did that cat-thing…”  
“Ravage.”  
“…Why did Ravage attack?”  
Making a thoughtful sound, Blaster scratched his chin, “No clue, honestly, but Ravage and Laserbeak were both in hunting mode, so Soundwave’s lookin’ for something. No surprisin’.” Hibiki frowned, “What could they be looking for? We’re a town of music…”  
“Well, ya’ probably gave him something new to search for with that fancy light show of yours.” Blaster pointed out, “Soundwave’s always scouting for something to give the ‘Cons the edge.” Hummy tipped her head to the side quizzically, “What’s a ‘Con?”  
“Decepticon—nasty mechs, and Soundwave’s as nasty as they come.”   
“And you’re not a ‘Decepticon’?” Kanade asked, putting her hands on her hips, and Blaster laughed like she had told the greatest joke in the world, “Me? Slag no, I’m an Autobot. We’re the good guys.” There was a slight edge to his voice, almost like it was being forced, but he started talking before any of them could question it, “What about you? Prowl never reported humans explodin’ int’ light like that.”  
“We’re Pretty Cure.” Hibiki announced proudly, before Kanade or Ellen could say anything, “We’re the good guys of Earth!”  
“Sweet.” Blaster was appreciatively, “Nice punch t’ Ravage by the way.” He held out a loose fist, and with a grin, Hibiki bumped her own against his, “Thanks—nice save in the beginning of it. Sorry for pressing all your buttons.”  
“Hey, nothing to be sorry for, I had a cover and you didn’t know. No harm, no foul.”   
Away from the duo, Ellen and Kanade shared another look, “Well, at least they’re getting along…” Kanade said uneasily, “…But what are we going to do now?”  
“Ravage is still out there—and what don’t know anything about whatever ‘Soundwave’ is…” Ellen frowned, “And Blaster hasn’t told us what he’s doing here.”  
“I’m sure it’ll all be fine!” Hummy piped up, smiling brightly, “He’s a hero like us, because he said he was a good guy!” Smiling down her friend, Ellen simply scratched behind her ears, making her purr happily while the Cure decided against telling her it wasn’t that simple.   
“We can trust him for now, I suppose.” Kanade began again, glancing at her childhood friend and the giant robot, and were engaged in an enthusiastic conversation that involved a lot of hand movements and fist pumps. 

\--

As it turned out, whatever was blocking Blaster’s signal didn’t go away over the course of the next few days. Whenever they were able to, he unfolded himself from his disguise as a boom box and attempted to get a broadcast through, and usually gave up after several tries and start playing various radio stations from the town that caught his interest.   
While he was playing a pop station and letting Hummy and the fairies dance to it, Hibiki suddenly sat down heavily next to Kanade, “I,” She started seriously, “Have an idea why Blaster’s signal isn’t working.” She waited for a dramatic moment, until Kanade made a little ‘get on with it’ gesture with one hand, the other keeping close to the container of cake she had brought this afternoon to the old church, “I think it’s the Notes, Kanade!”  
“The Notes…are interfering with a giant robot’s radio?” Stranger things had happened, Kanade supposed, and Hibiki nodded enthusiastically, waving over Ellen to sit next to them, “It makes a lot of sense for this, right? And he said Soundwave was looking for things to give the ‘Decepticons’ the edge—they might’ve found out about Notes and that’s why Ravage and Laserbeak were in town!”  
“How did they find out about Notes, though? It isn’t Minor Land’s style to recruit outsiders like this.” Ellen asked, and Hibiki paused, so Kanade could almost hear the gears in her head spinning. She picked up when her friend was quiet for too long, “They might not know what the Notes are, specifically, but Soundwave might’ve found one by chance and thinks it’s a source of energy…or something.”   
Hibiki’s mouth made an ‘O’ of understanding, and Ellen looked impressed, and Kanade smiled a little, handing out a piece of cake to each of them, “Its only a theory, so…”  
“Still sounds pretty good to me. Humans are pretty sharp!” Blaster’s voice made them jump, and Hibiki made an uncharacteristic yelp as she almost dropped her cake. Somehow during their discussion, he had moved from where Hummy and the fairies were playing to next to them, music from his speakers carefully modulated so they wouldn’t hear anything different. He snickered at their expression, Hummy giggled from her perch on his shoulder armor with the fairies flying around her, making Kanade frown, “Don’t sneak up on us like that!”  
“I could, but you humans always seem surprised I can do that.” He said light heartedly, “Don’t get your tail pipe clogged, it’s just a joke.”   
“Nothing’s clogged, you just keep surprising us!”   
“What’s a tail pipe?” Hummy piped up, and Blaster suddenly became engrossed in adjusting his communication signals again, “…Yup, still blocked and not gettin’ anythin’ through.”   
Hibiki looked up after shoving almost half of her slice of cake in her mouth, “Actually,” She began, voice slightly muffled from the food, “We have an idea why you can’t reach anyone. It has to do with us being Pretty Cure.”   
He perked up, interested, but waited until she swallowed, “We collect these things called Notes—they’re for the Score of Happiness in Majorland, where Hummy, Ellen, and the fairies are from.”  
“I’m just gonna’ nod and pretend I understand what you’re saying.”   
“And the Notes were scattered all over town, and they hide in objects and generally don’t do much… but,” She paused to eat another piece of cake, icing dotting around her mouth, “Villains from Minor land can corrupt them and they turn objects into Negatones!”  
“Still not understandin’, but that don’t sound good.”  
“So we beat the Negatones and collect the Notes.” Hibiki finished, eating the last piece of her cake at the same time, and broke off into coughing. With a small sigh, Kanade handed over a water bottle, “Well, our idea is that the Notes in town are causing the signal to not go through—they still emit sound, but no one can really hear them without a Score.” Ellen explained, and understanding dawned on Blaster’s face, “Oh, I get it—so, like, my audio sensors are picking up the frequencies and they’re blocking mine because of all the noise on those wavelengths! I get it.” At that, Ellen looked surprised, “You can hear the disorganized Notes?”  
“Kinda’—I catch the frequency no matter what I do.” He looked at her expression, “What? I used t’ be a Trans-Space Communications Specialist. My audio systems are th’ best in the Autobots.”   
By his helm, Hummy looked impressed, “So—so can you find where the Notes are?” The fairy asked excitedly, almost jumping if it wasn’t that she had to hang on to her perch, “We could find them before the Minor Trio!”  
“Sorry, no can do. All I get is the frequency from everywhere. At best, I can point ya’ in the general direction, but there’s too much noise for me to pinpoint just one pitch.” He glanced back at Ellen, “Like I said, sounds pretty good to me.”  
“Yeah, and you said that ‘Soundwave’ was interested in getting things for the Decepticons.” Kanade pointed out, “What if they got lucky and found a Note they could extract?”  
“Soundwave would have no idea what the Pit it is, but if it can be used for fightin’…” Blaster trailed off with a thoughtful sound, making quiet fall over them for a minute.   
What broke it was Hibiki setting down her water bottle, “Wait, I got another question—why is Soundwave getting this stiff for the Decepticons? Sure, they’re bad guys, but you make it sound like they’re planning something big.”  
“They’re bad guys, and I’m gonna’ leave it at that.” Blaster said firmly, and his tone said that it was the only answering they were going to get out of him, but Hibiki pushed harder, “Minor Land is trying to complete the melody of sorrow to drown the world in it—what are the Decepticons trying to do?”  
“At this point, they’re just tryin’ to wipe out the Autobots.”  
“And what’re you guys trying to do?”  
“Hit ‘em before they hit us.” Blaster answered, crossing his arms across his still marked chest, his expression darker than it had been before. Sensing the change, Hummy jumped down and skipped to Ellen’s lap, the fairies following her.   
There was a tense moment, and then Blaster jerked his head up, making a clicking noise, “…And I don’t wanna’ cause a panic, but there’s been a car idlin’ out there for a while, seems like.”   
The effect was instant: Hibiki scrambled to her feet and sprinted out of the protection of the church, with Kanade and Ellen quick to follow.  
“I thought you had the best audio sensors in the Autobots!” Ellen said, slightly frantic, and Blaster scowled briefly, “And the Notes or whatever are making everything scrambled! I have to turn off half of my sensors just to get some peace from all the noise!”   
By the door, Hibiki made a loud shushing noise, Kanade beside her as they peeked out, “They can’t possibly know we have a giant robot in here with us, right?” Ellen asked worriedly, “That’s not something people usually think about, right?”   
“Not usually, but hey, there’s apparently sentient wavelengths of music, so who knows!” Blaster answered her sarcastically, and Kanade shot him a reprimanding glare.   
“Well, I don’t recognize the car.” Hibiki said, breaking up the glaring contest between them, “Hey, Kanade, do you remember seeing a white and blue care like that around town?”  
Pulling herself around Hibiki to see, Kanade made a thoughtful noise, “…No, I don’t think so. Do you think it’s a friend of yours, Blaster?”   
“Dunno, lemme’ check.” Shuffling as best as he could past the pews, he leaned over them and, as stealthily as he could, peeked around doorframe at the idling car. In the tense moment that he looked, the Cures held their breath, until Blaster broke it with a loud round of cursing, some of it they could even understand.  
“Is it a Decepticon?” Hibiki’s voice was alarmed, springing to her feet, “No, its just as asshole.” Ellen clapped her hands over Hummy’s ears as he swore, glaring at Blaster, and he made an apologizing gesture in hopes to calm her.   
“…Does that mean you know them?” Kanade asked as she crawled forward to get a better view, and Blaster snorted, “Yeah—that’s my fraggin’ mission leader out there. Primus, I had no idea where he was and was throwin’ out distress signals left an’ right—and it turns out he’s right here in this town.”  
“It was probably the Notes’ fault that you couldn’t pick it up.” Hibiki tried to reassure him, “But it good anyways that you found him, or, uh, he found you.”   
“I hope he’s got some info on Soundwave—haven’t seen the fragger or his lil’ spies and its making me nervous.” Transforming down into a boom box, Blaster let Hibiki pick him up, “Still,” He carried on conversationally, “I’m kinda’ curious how no one noticed him—I mean, a sound system in a town of music isn’t gonna’ make anyone flick their optic, but what do ya’ do when a car suddenly appears over night, drivin’ itself around?”   
“Well, if he isn’t bothering anyone, maybe they just thought he was a new car?” Ellen offered as they walked out, “Everyone’s pretty friendly here, so maybe they didn’t think too much of it. People get new cars.”   
“Okay, guess maybe he stands out less than me. Remind me to give Perceptor an’ Wheeljack a processor ache over this alt. mode. ‘But the Mass-Displacement Engine will grant you better cover!’ my skid plate.” The last part he grumbled, mostly to himself, and Hibiki laughed a little behind her hand at his bad mood.

The car didn’t move as they walked closer, and gave no hint that it was like Blaster. In Hibiki’s arms, the boom box made a sound like a dismissive snort, “Jazz, my mech, can you tell me what’s goin’ on?”  
“Maybe, but what about them? I don’t want Prowl to chew out my fuel pump for breakin’ protocol.” The car suddenly replied just as easily, headlights blinking to his mood.   
“Don’t worry, they’re cool. Its, uh, kind of a funny story, but they’re cool.”  
“You’re gonna’ have t’ tell me that story sometime, Blaster my mech, but for now, lets say to leave it to the field report and go on with the main things.”  
Blaster made a sound of agreement, “Is your comm. system down too?”  
“Slag, even you? I was plannin’ on regroupin’ with you and gettin’ word to the main ship.”  
“Yeah, that’s part of the weird story I gotta’ tell ya’.”   
Jazz made a thoughtful noise, his engine revving every so often, “…Well, then I guess you gotta’ tell it to me now.” 

\--

“Laserbeak: Report.” With a screech, the bird folded up and returned to Soundwave’s chest compartment, the mask unreadable as data flew across the red visor.  
“Conclusion: More energy sources can be found. Locate and retrieve.” His chest compartment opening again, Laserbeak flew out and quickly flew higher and then spiraled down to the town.   
By his legs, Ravage emerged from the grass, red eyes narrowed, “The Autobot is evading my systems. The…energy waves are blocking the sensors.”   
“No matter.” Ravage looked up at Soundwave’s answer, “New objective: Collect unknown energy frequencies.”  
“There were a…trio of organics looking to collect them too.” Ravage’s audio sensors flicked back at the memory file, “…Their vocalizers were grating. Said they were from another land.”  
“Did you deal with them?”  
“They got away before I could finish it.”   
“Will there continue to be more interference?”  
“Negative.” Ravage’s voice was smug, and Soundwave nodded, “Then return to your objective…and search for the Autobot.”  
“Yes, sir.” 

\--

Ellen nervously glanced up at the second giant robot taking up space in the old church, the visor making his face oddly unreadable. Once they had managed to get back inside, with some creative maneuvering through a rear entrance on Jazz’s part, Blaster had turned business-like, a side that the Cure’s hadn’t seen from him as he briefed his superior officer about what had happened. When it came to the explanations involving them as Pretty Cure, he let them explain it, and sometimes relayed certain things in terms that were easier to understand.   
“…And that’s about it. Doesn’t make much sense, an’ the mission report might make Prowl’s logic circuits crash, but that’s as much as I got.” Blaster finished, “What about you, sir?”   
“Picked up traces of Ravage and Laserbeak, but it wasn’t much.”  
“So they’re still scoutin’.”  
“Probably after those Notes. Soundwave would want ‘em.”   
“What could the ‘Cons use sentient music for?”  
“Beats the oil outta’ me, Blaster, but Shockwave would find a way if this gets back to Cybertron.” Jazz scratched his chin thoughtfully, “An’ if you use your full system all you get is the Notes’ frequency.”  
“That’s right, sir.”   
Another thoughtful sound, and suddenly Jazz snapped his fingers, “Then monitor those. If Laserbeak or Ravage gets ‘em, it’ll make a different sound, right?” He looked down to confirm with Ellen, surprising her, “Well—they should. Not even most members of Major land can hear the Notes that well, and they won’t change that much because they’re not turning into Negatones.”  
“No problem.” Blaster said, “I’m a communications officer, I know how to get the change in frequencies down to even a nano-klik.” He gave them a thumbs up, before shifting down into his boom box form, “I’ll get on it.”   
There was the sound of him flipping through the channels, and Ellen leaned in curiously, Hummy on her shoulder, “What…do they sound like?”  
“Hmm? What do what?”  
“The Notes.” She clarified, “It’s said only Queen Aphrodite can hear their voice like that…I-I’m just curious.”  
“Well, they don’t really sound like anything on Cybertron…let’s see if I can’t share it.” There was the crackle of static, and then quiet as he found the right frequency.   
It began softly, similar to small voices singing single notes, but it grew until it became clear they were all making noise at once. Sometimes it sounded like they were trying to slide together in the semblance of a song, but then another note interfered, or the Notes messed up, and it returned to disorganized noise.   
Hibiki raised her eyebrows as one of the Notes hit a flat sound, “But when they’re on the Score…”  
“They create the melody of happiness!” Hummy finished her thought excitedly, “They’re just separated and confused now!”   
Kanade winced as one of the Notes seemingly tripped over another, knocking yet another attempt at forming a melody out of alignment, “Ouch.”   
“Oof.” Jazz agreed, “While you’re gettin’ on with that, Blaster, I need t’ know more about the lay o’ the land.” Kanade straightened up in her seat when he turned to look down at her, “Considerin’ we might be waitin’ a while.” 

In the shadows cast be the old buildings, Ravage sniffed the air, systems working to get through the thick layer of distracting frequencies cast by the energy signatures all around the human town.   
With a flick of their tail, they edged closer to the shape of the church; while the frequencies might mask the Autobot signal, there was no disguising the scents of fuel in the air and the wheel marks in the grass that stopped and turned into massive footprints.   
Ravage sneered to themselves. Autobots. Fools the lot of them, and, as they crept closer, these two were some of the most annoying ones. Always interfering with Soundwave’s schemes.   
Pushing the door open by a fraction of an inch, Ravage growled, but their sensors didn’t pick up any of the energy frequencies, so they forced themselves to back away, despite the two Autobots being there, the special ops mech, Jazz, couldn’t be confronted without help at least from Laserbeak.   
With another snarl, Ravage back away and disappeared in between the old buildings.


	2. Now You're in the World

However, when more days passed without signs of Soundwave, his cassettes, or even Negatones and the agents of Minor land, Ellen got worried. Even the Minor Trio, for all their quirks, wouldn’t leave such a long period in between attacks.  
With Blaster monitoring the Notes’ frequencies, it was a simple, if slow matter to pinpoint a Note and coax it out of its hiding place and back onto the Score where it belonged.   
“Is it wrong to be on edge because of that?” She asked Jazz, the two of them sitting on a hill outside of town, watching Hibiki play with Hummy and the fairies, Blaster playing music along to them and Kanade keeping careful watch on the food she had brought.   
“Bein’ on edge ‘cause its been quiet?”  
“Yes—we don’t have to fight, and we’re collecting Notes without anyone in danger, but I can’t help but be…uneasy about this.”   
“I’d say its natural. If its goin’ easy in a fight that’s you gotta’ have your guard up the most.” Jazz answered casually, leaning back and propping himself up on his arms, “Its good instincts.”  
“You seem pretty calm about it.”  
“I’ve gotta’ good poker face. Used t’ drive Smokey’s circuits mad ‘cause he couldn’t read me.” He smirked, and then his expression, what she could see with his visor covering part of his face, turned serious, “But you gotta’ point. Soundwave ain’t one for chargin’ int’ battle, but he ain’t one t’ just leave ya’ hangin’ unless he had to.”  
He made a thoughtful sound, mirrored by Ellen, watching Hibiki kick a soccer ball into the air and Hummy tripping over her own feet trying to chase it.   
“...Unfortunately, our position right now is kinda’ th’ react side.” Jazz said with a sigh, “Not my favorite part o’ fightin’ the long fight, but there ain’t much only two o’ us can do t’ flush Soundwave out for a good fight.”   
“Is there a way to find him?” Ellen asked, “If he’s collecting Notes too, shouldn’t we be able to follow his trail that way?”  
“He’d haveta’ have a lotta’ Notes, I reckon.” Jazz still thought it over, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “There’s still stuff blockin’ Blaster’s sensors, and Ravage an’ Laserbeak are hard t’ find on a good day.”   
“So we are stuck reacting to whatever he’s planning.” Ellen sighed deeply, making Jazz perk up, “Hey, hey, ya’ gotta’ keep a chin up!” Shyly, she tried to smile, and he laughed good naturedly, “That’s th’ way—you probably should get down there, looks like your friend is tryin’ t’ refuel before ya’.”   
Following her run down the hill, but at a slower pace, Jazz hummed a small note when he stopped to stand next to Blaster, “Still no luck wit’ gettin’ to th’ Autobots?”  
“Sorry, sir, looks like we’re still stuck.”   
“Nothin’ t’ be sorry for, jus’ keep me posted. Any luck on Soundwave?”  
“Just about the same answer—well,” Blaster suddenly thought, reviewing the scanned track files in his processor, “There are more holes in the Notes’ frequency channel. Soundwave’s movin’ a lot faster than we originally thought then.”  
“Ya’ sure it just ain’t them,” Jazz tilted his head at the girl eating the picnic lunch, Kanade scolding Hibiki, “And the collectin’ they’ve been doin’?”  
“Positive—the holes are larger than our progress, but were hard to ascertain without my sensor grid running at 100%.”  
“So part o’ it still down?”  
“Just an after effect of listenin’ to the Notes for too long.” Blaster shrugged, “I’ll run more sensors later.”  
“Don’t push yourself, mech.” 

 

The energy sources were loud in his recharge, attempting to weave melodies in his chest compartment, their tries going longer and getting closer to harmony with each Note that Laserbeak or Ravage delivered to him.   
Staring impassively at his reflection in a still lake, Soundwave watched the colored lights of the dots of living sound swirl behind the dark glass of his compartment.   
Next to his leg, Ravage studied the reflection as well, quiet for a moment, “…They could be the lights of Cybertron, if you look at them like that.” Ravage’s tail flicked, “What are they saying?”  
“Nothing of importance.” Soundwave dismissed it, standing up and walking away from the pool. Ravage stayed for a moment, before following, “The Autobots are on edge that we haven’t made our move yet.” Another flick of their tail. “As am I.”   
“Ravage: Will have patience.”   
“Laserbeak is on edge. What’s the endgame to this?”   
“Energy points: Sentient sounds.”  
The red lights of Ravage’s eyes narrowed, “They’re not simple energy sources, are they?”  
“No.”   
And then Soundwave was walking ahead, ending the conversation. Ravage didn’t bother following the Decepticon, and loped off into the night to resume patrolling.   
Halfway down the tall grass to the outskirts of the town, the sound of wings made them pause and look up, Laserbeak slowly descending in a spiral.  
“What do you want?”  
The bird-like mech made a quiet noise, landing on the ground and tucked its wings against its body. “Is this about the energy signals we’ve been collecting?”  
Laserbeak made a whirring sound, nodding its head and Ravage made a sigh, a trait he had picked up after working around Starscream for four million years, “Whatever they are, they aren’t singing. That’s ridiculous.” With an annoyed flick of their tail, Ravage continued moving, feeling Laserbeak’s piercing red eyes following them until they disappeared from sight. 

“Hey, hey, hey, HEY! We gotta’ problem, and its, like, Megs’ in the bunker level of trouble, accordin’ to my sensors now!” Blaster’s loud voice, outside of her house of all things, made Hibiki jump out of her bed, heart beating fast and she ran to her window to stare at the boom box sitting on the roof of a black and white care in the street.  
“Blaster! What are you doing?”  
“Gettin’ your attention! Grab your Pretty Cure business, something big tripped my sensor net.”  
Grumbling to herself about how lucky the two of them were that her father was out of town for business, Hibiki quickly pulled on some clothes, almost running down the steps and out her front door.  
“You could’ve given my neighbors heart attacks! You’re lucky everyone around here is used to noise!” She scowled at the boom box, which had suddenly gone back to innocently playing soft music from one of the late night radio stations. “And Jazz! I thought you were his boss!” Hibiki leaned down to glare through the driver’s seat window, and the car merely shifted it wheels to mimic a shrug.   
Seeing as the duo seemed to not feel quite so guilty, Hibiki picked up Blaster and reached for one of the doors to the backseats, but Jazz quickly unlocked the passenger door, “It might be a bit crowded, so why don’t ya’ jus’ sit in th’ front.” He suggested, and she walked around to get in.   
In the back seat, Ellen and Kanade waved, the former more sheepish and the latter still wearing an annoyed expression.   
“We tried to talk them out of it.” Ellen said apologetically while Hibiki buckled herself into the seat, having set Blaster down in the driver’s seat, “But they…uh, didn’t listen very well…”  
“My mom is going to ground me until I turn forty.” Kanade’s tone was icy, and Hibiki shivered, having heard that voice a few times before, “I had to do so much fast talking to explain going out in the middle of the night in a car they haven’t seen before!” She looked over at Hibiki, expression softening, “I had to tell them it was your dad’s new car from your mom because she was traveling.”  
From the stereo system, Jazz coughed awkwardly, “Let’s roll out, yeah? Blaster, where we headed?”   
“Outside of town—what I got of my sensor grid says there’s a build of th’ Notes’ frequencies there. Sounds like Soundwave got himself almost a complete part o’ your memory.” From the backseat, there was a small gasp in amazement, and Hibiki twisted around as Jazz started driving, to see Hummy on Ellen’s lap, “But he can’t sing a melody!”  
“It take a songstress from Major land to bring out the full power of the Notes.” Ellen clarified for Jazz and Blaster, “Like Hummy or me.”  
“Okay, gotcha’.” The lights along the steering wheel blinked along with his voice, “Still, what’s he got planned? That’s a lotta’ Notes for a mech who don’t know what they are.”  
“He’ll probably try t’ get ‘em off planet and ship ‘em to Shockwave.” Blaster added thoughtfully, “He’s the ‘Con’s chief scientist.” The last part was added more for their benefit than Jazz’s, and the car’s engine grumbled, “Well, at least Shockers ain’t on Earth…”  
“Yeah, yeah, bless Primus for small miracles or somethin’.” Blaster snorted, “Oh—turn right.” There was a small screech as Jazz did so, avoiding the larger roads that would manage to have traffic, even late at night, “Still, we gotta’ stop ‘em, and you get the Notes.”   
Hibiki nodded, and Kanade leaned forward in her seat to talk, “So we’ll probably end up fighting Soundwave?”  
“Yeah—though most o’ the direct fightin’ he does through Ravage and Laserbeak.” Jazz answered, and Ellen made a noise of understanding, “We already had a taste of that.”  
“I hope you’re up for punching Ravage again, Hibiki.” Blaster said, “Because—Jazz, incoming! Its Laserbeak!”  
“Wha—frag! Sensor net still bein’ messed wit’?”   
“I only sensed him when he was practically right on top of us!” Blaster protested, “Soundwave isn’t moving, but we’re gonna get company from his cassettes. You guys wanna’ transform?”  
“Ya’ might haveta’ run on foot if this turns int’ a firefight.” Jazz swerved small explosions suddenly hit the road alongside him, throwing the girls to the side.   
Righting herself, Hibiki dug in her pocket for the Cure Module, holding it up as Kanade and Ellen produced their own, “Right! Let’s play! Pretty Cure Modulation!”   
The inside of the car exploded into light, and above them, Laserbeak screeched, firing another round and Jazz’s tired squealed as he avoided them, speeding up even more.   
“Uh, ‘bots—Cures? Soundwave—well, th’ Notes’ frequency…I hate t’ break your catch phrases, but Laserbeak ain’t the only ‘Con on top of us!” Blaster suddenly yelled, his volume turned higher to be heard, and Jazz swore again, dipping into an alien language, “Where?”  
“The over pass!” Hibiki yelled, and pushed the door open, dropping to the ground in a roll, Jazz screeching as he hit the brakes to slow down, Ellen and Kanade jumping out when he flipped open the back doors.   
The figure of Soundwave was eerily quiet, and the dark of the night made it so only his red visor and the swirling lights of the Notes were the only things that could be seen.   
With one final screech, Jazz managed to stop as he turned quickly, the driver door popping open to drop out Blaster, who transformed the moment he was clear of the other.   
With a hiss, Ravage emerged from the side of the road, effectively surrounding them.  
“Okay, Sounders.” Jazz’s tone was deceptively light as he transformed to robot mode, “How is this gonna’ go down?”  
Soundwave didn’t answer, or a make a motion to acknowledge his presence, while Ravage snarled, metal claws dragging menacingly against the road.  
“I don’t think they’re in the mood to talk tonight.” Kanade said, her voice holding no trace of fear as she got into a fighting stance, the two other Cures mirroring her, “Who goes after who?”  
“Whoever is fastest—go after Laserbeak.” Blaster’s speakers hummed as he charged them, “He’s th’ fastest.”  
“I’ll do it.” Ellen said quickly, the Love Guitar Rod appearing her hand with a twist of her wrist. Next to her, following Ravage’s movement, Hibiki smirked, cracking her knuckles, “I’ll go for the kitty-cat. We have a fight to finish anyways.”  
“Don’t get careless.” Kanade’s voice was reprimanding, “I’ll go for Soundwave, then.”  
“That makes two ‘o us.” Jazz smirked, mimicking Hibiki in cracking his knuckles, “What about ya’, my mech?”  
“Runnin’ support. Everyone know how this is goin’ down?” Blaster smirked, letting his sound system turn on, “Let’s roll out!”

 

It was more difficult—far more difficult than any of the fights with Negatones or the Minor trio, she thought as she flipped on her hands, avoiding Ravage’s swipe, claws scoring long gashes down the concrete. Hibiki’s quick jab made it yowl in pain, and she jumped out of the way of another slash of its claws.   
“Hey, kitty-cat!” Blaster yelled from somewhere behind her, “Here’s for givin’ me a nice set of scratches last time we met!” Hibiki flipped again, putting more strength behind it to avoid the blast of sound from Blaster’s speakers, hitting Ravage and making them howl.   
In the air, Ellen spun her guitar weapon, deflecting Laserbeak’s attacks, “Beat—Sonic!” The waves of sound hitting it made Laserbeak screech in pain, firing more attacks off, making Blaster on the ground yell, covering his head.   
Up on the over pass, Kanade fired another ray of light, making Soundwave curse in the form of a line of static, forced to let it hit him while he blocked Jazz’s punch.  
“What’s a matter, Soundwave?” The Autobot asked playfully, “Usually you ‘Cons put up more of a fight.”  
“Autobot: Requesting a fight?” The red visor flashed, and Jazz’s smile morphed to a frown, “Then the Autobot shall get it.”  
“Hey, what are you plannin’…Slag!” Using his block to hold Jazz for another moment, Soundwave’s chest compartment fell open, and the collected Notes rushed out, hitting Jazz in a wave of light and muted sound. Soundwave straightened up as he fell back, turning to face Kanade, “Human: Inferior.”   
“We’ll see about that.” She countered grimly, “You just lost the Notes you spent weeks collecting, and you can’t deliver any back to your boss without having to collect them all over again.”  
“Negative.” Soundwave intoned, his own speakers powering up, “They shall return to me.”   
The blast of sound made the overpass explode as the noise of the Notes reached an unbearable cacophony. Hibiki yelled as Blaster dragged her back, Ravage yowling as they were buried underneath the rubble. Laserbeak screeched as its wings gave out, spiraling to the ground as Ellen landed next to them.  
“Oh god…Cure Rhythm! Rhythm! Jazz!” Hibiki yelled at the ruins of the road, “Kanade!”  
“Soundwave, that slagger…” Blaster growled, “He musta’ found a frequency th’ Notes respond to and set off an explosion…”   
Hibiki wasn’t listening as she ran forward, jumping to the top and started to pull chunks of concrete aside, “Come on! Come on, come on, Kanade!” Ellen joined her, and after a second, Blaster followed.   
Suddenly, a mechanical arm burst from under the rock, making Hibiki fall back, “Jazz? Jazz, is that you?!”  
“Negative.” Soundwave replied, pulling himself free, “Humans: inferior. Autobots: inferior. Soundwave:…” The red visor glowed with menace, “…Superior.” 

\--

Hibiki felt like her body was frozen. Soundwave’s foot was digging into the unhealed scratches across Blaster’s chest, the Autobot gasping as he raised his foot and stomped again.   
“Stop it…Stop it!” The yell wasn’t hers, but Ellen’s, and the blue Cure jumped in the air, swinging her guitar like a weapon, “Stop it! Stop it!” Soundwave knocked her away with one hand and a blast of noise, making her slam into the road, trembling in the middle of the cracks as she slowly pulled herself to her feet.   
“…Melody, we have to…we have to beat him…”  
It almost hurt to force her limbs to move, but Hibiki grit her teeth, curling her hand into a fist, eyes now blazing with anger at Soundwave, “You…you…”  
“Human: inferior.”  
“Stop saying that!” She yelled pushing herself into the air with enough force that the road under her feet cracked, “We’re not inferior to anyone! You can’t decide that!” He blocked her punch with one giant hand, but she pulled back her other arm and struck him again, “Kanade isn’t inferior to anyone, Ellen isn’t inferior to anyone, Blaster isn’t, Jazz isn’t and I’m not!” She punched again; forcing him to step off of Blaster, “So stop it all!”   
With one last punch, Soundwave fell back, and she landed on the ground, breathing hard, “Blaster, Beat, are you guys okay?”  
“Yeah…” Blaster struggled to sit up, “Ouch, I’m good.”  
“S-same.” Ellen nodded, shaking but her expression was determined.   
Looking forward, Hibiki put her fists up when Soundwave stood up, visor a bright red, “Well, what are you waiting for?”  
“Ground Bridge.” Soundwave’s tone was emotionless.  
“What—what?”   
She tensed to jump at him, but Blaster grabbed her as a roar suddenly filled the area, a bright light appearing around Soundwave.   
“Laserbeak: Return. Ravage: Return.” Streaking past them in a blur of metal, Laserbeak folded into a cassette and dove into Soundwave’s chest compartment, followed by Ravage doing the same.  
“Hey—hey! Get back here!” Hibiki tried to free herself from Blaster’s grip, “We’re not done!”  
“Humans: live…for this moment.” Without any other words, Soundwave stepped back into the light, and the roar reached a fevered pitch, before suddenly disappearing as the light seemed to collapse in on itself.   
After a minute, Blaster let her go.  
“Why did you stop me?” She turned quickly to look up at him, “What was that light?”  
“Was a Ground Bridge—the ‘Cons have a base on Earth, and a Ground Bridge system lets ‘em teleport anywhere they can get coordinates to on this planet.”   
“So he was just toying with us until he could retreat.” Ellen’s expression was dark, “Was that it?”  
“I can’t say.”   
Silence fell over them, and Hibiki could feel tears start to well up in her eyes, “Let’s…let’s clear this up then.” She waved at the fallen over pass, “We still have to find Kanade and Jazz.”   
They moved in silence, pushing the rubble out of the way until Ellen yelled in discovery, “I think—I found Jazz!” His white armor was visible through the spaces between rocks, and Blaster pushed more out of the way, “Jazz! Can ya’ hear me?”  
They might have missed the low groan if they hadn’t been holding their breaths to hear the answer, “…Blaster? Ye…yeah…we good…” Slowly, he lifted himself up, rocks sliding away, “I’m… ‘m good. Where’s Soundwave…?”  
“Ground bridge.”  
“Huh. Well…” Jazz shifted more, pushing rocks out of the way, “Ya…ya’ best get your friend…out from here…considerin’ humans need air an’ th’ like…” Hibiki sharply and jumped down, “Kanade!”  
The white Cure was lying under the Autobot, obviously having been shielded from the brunt of the explosion and the falling bridge by him.  
Kneeling by her, Hibiki hesitantly reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, “Kanade…?”  
“M’…scanners say she’s fine…” Blaster pulled Jazz up, letting his superior officer use him for support. Letting out a sigh of relief and feeling something unclench around her heart, Hibiki carefully looped one of Kanade’s arms around her neck, Ellen going to her other side and doing the same.  
“Th’…blast o’ Notes took a lot…outta’ me…” Jazz managed to laugh, “Looks like it’ll be…a bit until ‘m at…100% again.”   
“Don’t rust a gear about it, sir.” Blaster helped him move, following the Cures back to the lights of the town, “I gotta’ feel for th’ Notes, and I think they gotta’ feel for me, so I bet I could get a signal out.”  
“You’re going to leave?” Hibiki didn’t know why she was surprised, “Just like that?”  
“You gonna’ miss me?” Blaster asked her, a smirk in his voice, “Don’t worry, I’m a communications officer, I can load up the main ‘Bot computer an’ connect to an interstellar frequency.”  
Jazz chuckled a little, and Hibiki managed to smile over at Ellen, “Well…lets then focus on…how we’re sneaking back home.” The blue cure said, and Hibiki made a face, “Kanade’s mom is going to freak out…guess the easiest thing would be to say we had a sleep over at my house, considering my dad’s still out of town.”  
“Oh, I’ve never been to a sleep over before…and I haven’t read those books on it yet…” She laughed slightly at Ellen’s sudden worry, “Don’t sweat it, we’ll have a proper one on another night—right now, I think we’re just patching each other up.”   
Behind them, Blaster snorted, “That’s all great for you, but I still haveta’ lug Jazz’s sorry aft back to your garage.”  
“I take offence at that, my mech! I weigh less than Prowl.” Jazz stuck his tongue out at Blaster, and Hibiki laughed again, “Well, we’re all stuck walking, so I guess we kind of lose in that respect.”  
Between them, Kanade groaned, slowly coming to awareness, and looked up at her friends’ smiling faces, “What…what happened?”  
“We’re all fine, Soundwave’s gone from the town, and he didn’t get any Notes…” Ellen smiled more as Hibiki trailed off, picking up for her friend, "I'd say we won, then."


End file.
